Pizza: Chicago vs. New York vs. Detroit

by | Aug 13, 2018

Wait, wait…what? Detroit? That’s right, the Motor City…Mo-Town…the home of Ford and Chevy, and awesome pizza that is sweeping America!

The latest rage in pizza is Detroit Style.

What is it?

It is thick, really thick; thick focaccia bread thick crust (about an inch thick) with light sauce, toppings and finished with cheese on top. Then, it is served with warm sauce on the side to be smeared on top or dipped into. It is also not round (they bake it on sheet, half sheet and quarter sheet pans) and it is cut into squares.

With pizza joints like Northside Nathan’s and Padrino’s expanding out of Detroit to far flung locations like Vegas and LA, the little known and rarely debated pizza is starting to find a following nationwide. This makes Detroit Pizza the latest in pizza trends for 2017.

Here is what you will need to make a great Detroit pie (recipe is for one sheet pan of pizza, scale as needed):

Crust:
(note: always make the batches of dough separate, makes scaling easier later when making pizzas)
8 cups Bread Flour (important to use actual good quality bread flour)
1 ½ tbls Yeast (Dry active)
1 tbls white sugar
¼ cup Kosher Salt
4 cups warm tap water
Melted Butter as needed

Directions:
1. In a stand mixer bowl, combine sugar, 1 cup of the flour, water and yeast. Let the yeast bloom (about 10-12 minutes) and form a foamy crust on top of the water.
2. Add salt and remaining flour. Mix with a dough hook until dough comes together as a ball.
3. Lightly brush with butter and cover bowl.
4. Let dough stand for 3 hours.

Sauce:
#10 can of good tomatoes
1 cup olive oil
½ cup minced garlic
¼ cup dry oregano
¼ cup dry parsley flake
1 tbs onion powder
1 tbs red chili flake

Directions:
1. Sweat garlic in olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add everything else to pot and slowly bring to a simmer, stirring often.
3. Simmer for about 30 minutes (until reduced by a third).

Making The Pizza:
1 Batch Dough
1 Batch Sauce
8 cups shredded Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese
1 tbls dry oregano

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Punch down the dough ball with your bare hands.
3. Brush sheet pan with melted butter.
4. Spread dough on pan, edge to edge and corner to corner. Use your fingers to push little dimples all across the dough.
5. Using about half the sauce, lightly sauce the pizza crust all the way to the edges.
6. Toppings – your choice, just don’t put too many or too much. The classic Michigan combination is Pepperoni and Canned Mushrooms.
7. Cheese – shredded mozzarella ONLY. Whole milk mozzarella. Spread cheese across entire pizza and sprinkle top with oregano.
8. Bake at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Serve with extra sauce on the side for dipping.

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